























“they ate until they could eat no more”— Page 3 




Daddy’s Bedtime 
Animal Stories 

By 

Mary Graham Bonner 


With four illustrations in color by 
Florence Choate and Elizabeth Curtis 



New York 

Frederick A. Stokes Company 

Publishers 












Copyright, 1916, by 
Frederick A. Stokes Company 

All rights reserved, including that of translation into 
foreign languages 



AUG 14 1916 


©Cl A437222 



TO 

THE MEMORY OF MY BROTHER, 
WHO GAVE ME THE HAPPINESS 
OF MY CHILDHOOD 





CONTENTS 


PAGE 

The Two Little Mice’s Christmas Eve Party i 
Spud Coon’s New Year’s Resolution ... 4 

Billy Porcupine Saved by His Brother’s 

Quills.7 

How the Rabbit Learned to Run .... 10 

The Jolly Keeper and the Gloomy Gnu . . 13 

The Pussy Who Wandered from Home . . 16 

The Rooster Who Disliked Motorcars . . 19 

Clever Mr. Mole’s Revenge on Farmer Hicky 22 
Br’er Rabbit’s Revenge on Br’er Fox ... 25 

The Pig Who Had No Table Manners . . 28 

The Good and the Bad Rooster.31 

The Waltzing Mice and Their Opening Ball 34 
The Mole and Turtle Open a Store ... 37 

Billy Beaver’s Home for His Bride .... 40 

The Chipmunks’ and Squirrels’ Snow Battle 43 
The Rabbits’ Iceboating Jollification ... 46 

The Indian Mongoose and the Woodsman . 49 

The Elephants’ Return to the Circus . . 52 

The Big Dog Who Was Frightened by a Bug 55 
The Devoted Bunny Bonnie Rabbit ... 58 




These stories -first appeared in the American Press 
Association Service 


THE TWO LITTLE MICE’S 
CHRISTMAS EVE PARTY 



A Jolly Old Man 
Appeared 


STANCE upon a time,” be- 
gan daddy, “a little 
mouse had heard when he 
was hiding in holes in the 
corners of the rooms that 
all the little boys and girls 
in the world once a year 
had a Christmas tree full 
of goodies. A dear old person named Santa 
Claus trimmed the tree for them and filled 
the stockings which they hung up by the fire¬ 
places. 

“The little mouse didn’t see why he 
shouldn’t have a Christmas, too, so he told an¬ 
other little mouse what he had heard. To¬ 
gether they planned what they would do. 
They would bore through two little holes in 
the parlor where they had heard the tree was 
to be. There they stayed every night, keep- 







2 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


ing very quiet. They heard the children talk 
about what they hoped Santa Claus would 
bring them and saw them constantly send notes 
up the chimney to him. 

“Of course the mice had to keep very quiet, 
as they didn’t want to let the children know 
they were there, and with a great deal of self 
denial they stayed out of the pantry, living for 
their very own Christmas party. 

“At last Christmas eve came. They saw the 
children in their little nighties hang up their 
stockings by the fireplace and then trot off to 
bed. 

“Before long the mice heard strange noises 
on the roof, and then a little soot began to fall 
down the chimney. Soon they saw a jolly old 
man appear, with white hair and a white 
beard, from the chimney, and they nudged 
each other, whispering, ‘That must be Santa 
Claus.’ 

“Sure enough, it was Santa Claus, for he 
had a big bag of presents with him, and at 
once he set to work. At first he trimmed the 
tree. He had plenty of silver trimming and 
candles; but, best of all (thought the mice), 
he strung popcorn over the tree and made it 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 3 

look as if the snow had fallen over it. Then 
he tied on the branches candy canes and candy 
animals of all sorts. Next he filled the stock¬ 
ings, and how the mouths of the two little mice 
did water as they saw all sorts of nuts, raisins 
and big rosy cheeked apples going in! The 
toys didn’t interest the mice, as they were long- 
ing to get at the things to eat. 

“Before long Santa was through and 
quickly disappeared up the chimney. And 
then—the mice began their feast. And, oh, 
what a time they did have! They ate until 
they could eat no more, and they thought 
Christmas the finest time of the year, for never 
before had they seen food still before them 
which they weren’t hungry for! 

“The next morning when the children saw 
so many nutshells and bits of popcorn lying 
around they knew that some little mice must 
have had a party, but they didn’t set a cruel 
trap, as they thought it was fine that the mice 
had had a Christmas party too.” 


SPUD COON’S NEW YEAR’S 
RESOLUTION 



I 


MUST tell you,” said 


JL daddy to Jack and 
Evelyn, “about Spud 
Coon’s New Year’s reso¬ 
lutions. Spud Coon had 
been a very naughty rac- 


Dr. Red Fox Was coon during the Christ- 

Reading a Book. mas holidays< R e had 

been stealing a great many of Farmer Wells’ 
chickens. He had given a number of chicken 
feasts and had also gone to many dances. He 
had always come home very much exhausted 
and stayed in bed late every morning. 

“Of course too many dances, too many 
chicken feasts and such late hours began to 
make Spud Coon feel wretched. He got ex¬ 
tremely worried about himself, and one eve¬ 
ning—it was New Year’s eve, by the way— 
Spud Coon decided he would go to see Dr. 
Red Fox. 


4 






DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 5 

“Now, Dr. Red Fox had been very naughty 
when he was a little fox, but age had given 
him a great deal of common sense, and he was 
as clever as a fox can be, which is pretty 
clever, you know. 

“Spud Coon found him all alone in his 
office, which was about a mile through the 
woods from where Spud Coon lived. Dr. 
Red Fox was seated on a wooden stump read¬ 
ing an enormously big book, and he looked 
very wise with his spectacles on his nose. 

u ‘How do you do, Spud Coon?’ said Dr.. 
Fox, as he looked up from his book. 

“ ‘Oh, very poorly! I am afraid I am 
going to die,’ replied Spud Coon. 

“ ‘Why, what’s the trouble?’ 

“ ‘Oh, doctor, I’ve very bad pains in my 
head, and my legs ache, and I don’t know 
what is the matter with me!’ 

“Dr. Fox took his spectacles off his nose 
and, leaning back on the stump, sighed heav- 
ily. 

“ ‘Well, 1 know what the trouble is, Spud 
Coon; you’ve been eating too many chickens, 
and too much of anything is bad for you. 
Then you’ve stolen them, and your conscience 


6 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


is troubling you, for you really are a good 
coon at heart, and late hours—they are awful 
for you. You should get up early, go hunt¬ 
ing for your food in the right way, and then 
you’ll feel well. But if you keep on like 
this,’ and Dr. Fox looked very grave, ‘you’ll 
be all doubled up with rheumatism so that 
your joints will get stiff and you will not be 
able to walk without limping and no one will 
care for you.’ 

“Spud Coon felt for a few moments that 
he could never give up dances and chicken 
feasts, so accustomed to them had he become, 
and he had greatly enjoyed his lazy and gay 
life. But he realized how dreadful it would 
be to grow old and infirm before his time, so 
he bravely decided that his New Year’s reso¬ 
lutions would be to do as Dr. Red Fox had 
said so he could once more be a good and 
strong coon.” 


BILLY PORCUPINE SAVED BY 
HIS BROTHER’S QUILLS 


44 /^VNCE upon a time,” 
began daddy, “there 
lived way off in the woods 
—the dense, black woods 
where people never go— 
a family of porcupines. 

The Lion Looked at Now, you know, children, 
the Quills. . , , 

porcupines have long, 
sharp quills that look dangerous.” 

“They must be very cruel,” suggested 
Evelyn. 

“Oh, no,” said daddy; “they really are very 
mild and most kindly by nature. They must 
have those quills in order to protect them¬ 
selves. All animals need some means of pro¬ 
tection. They must have sharp claws or 
sharp teeth or be very strong and big—some¬ 
thing to save them from harm in the animal 
world. So the porcupines have their quills, 
and they just have to spread themselves out 

7 







8 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

with these sharp pointed quills in the air 
when they see any unfriendly animal, and the 
creature usually runs in fear. 

“One time a mother and daddy porcupine 
had six beautiful little porcupine children— 
at least they thought they were beautiful— 
and were very proud of them. But the 
youngest was not very strong; neither were 
his quills very sharp pointed. So his mother 
and daddy and his other little brothers and 
sisters made a great pet of little Billy Porcu¬ 
pine, as he was called. Whenever Billy 
wanted to go anywhere one of his brothers or 
sisters always went along with him to see that 
no harm came to him. 

“One day Billy Porcupine was invited to 
a porcupine children’s party. Only very 
young porcupines were invited, so Billy was 
the only one invited out of his family. His 
mother fixed him all up nicely for the party 
and brushed his quills to make them look as 
well as possible, and off he started with his 
biggest brother. Billy Porcupine was aw¬ 
fully excited, as he loved parties. But they 
had not gone very far when a great rumble 
was heard through the woods. ‘Oh, what is 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 9 


that?’ cried Billy Porcupine, and before his 
brother had time to answer what should they 
see coming toward them but a great big lion. 
The lion spied Billy first, and, seeing his quills 
weren’t very strong, he thought to himself, 
‘I’ll soon do away with that delicate little 
morsel.’ But he hadn’t seen Billy’s brother, 
who quickly shoved Billy back of him and 
stood in front of the lion, with his quills stick¬ 
ing straight out. 

“Then the big lion began to tremble as he 
looked at the sharp, long quills of Billy’s 
brother. He saw he couldn’t get at Billy 
without attacking Billy’s brother, and so the 
great big lion turned away from the little 
porcupine, shivering with fear at the mere 
thought of those awful quills of Billy’s 
brother, and ran. 

“So through his sharp quills he saved his 
brother’s life, and how happy the porcupine 
family felt at Billy’s rescue I needn’t tell 
you.” 


HOW THE RABBIT LEARNED TO 


RUN 


ELL you a story, chil- 



X dren? Well, let me 
see.” Daddy meditated a 
long time, for he was very 
tired after a hard day’s 
work. Suddenly he said: 


Off Tore Br’er Rabbit “Suppose I tell yOU 
at Full Speed. about TopSy?” 

“Oh, yes!” cried both the children. 

“Topsy was a beautiful little girl with long 
auburn curls, large, soft gray eyes and won¬ 
derful pink and white skin. No one had ever 
known just where she came from, for she said 
that she had just dropped from the clouds. 

“Anyway, Topsy was beautiful, and she 
didn’t care if her nose was freckled, for she 
dropped on the earth just in time to visit all 
the animals behind the tall dark pines where 
they lived. Any other little girl would have 
been frightened to death behind the pines 


10 



DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES n 


with the animals. But Topsy? No, indeed! 
She was perfectly at home. And they all just 
loved her. 

“They played blind man’s buff, hide and 
seek, Miss Sindy Sue and all kinds of games 
together. 

“One day Reddy Fox felt very jealous of 
Br’er Rabbit because Topsy seemed to enjoy 
playing with him more than any other ani¬ 
mal. So Reddy Fox decided he’d get rid of 
him. He told Br’er Rabbit that he’d walk 
with him to the end of the rainbow, where 
he’d heard there were just lots of beautiful 
little girls like Topsy, and all they lived upon 
was milk and honey. 

“Reddy Fox was very tricky, and he knew 
how to get Br’er Rabbit, for, of course, be¬ 
hind the dark pines they never have anything 
like milk and honey, and Reddy Fox knew 
how Br’er Rabbit loved milk and honey. So 
off they started, leaving Topsy heartbroken, 
for she loved Br’er Rabbit. 

“Br’er Rabbit went on ahead of Reddy 
Fox, who carried a long stick in his hand. 
On they walked and walked until Br’er Rab¬ 
bit’s feet were so sore he could hardly put one 


12 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

foot before the other. Each had a bag on his 
shoulder with some things to eat in it. So 
they sat down and ate and drank. 

“When they’d finished eating they started 
on again, Reddy Fox always very careful to 
linger behind long enough to let Br’er Rabbit 
get in front On and on they went until it 
had grown very dark. Reddy Fox stopped 
every few minutes to rest. Finally he de¬ 
cided he had gone far enough. He felt sure 
Br’er Rabbit would now be lost, so he yelled 
out to Br’er Rabbit to run as hard as he could, 
as he heard dogs. 

“Off tore Br’er Rabbit as fast as his legs 
would carry him, while Reddy Fox sat down 
and laughed as though his sides would split. 

“Children, Br’er Rabbit hasn’t stopped 
running from that day to this. It was Reddy 
Fox that taught the rabbit how to run.” 


THE JOLLY KEEPER AND THE 
GLOOMY GNU 


know,” said dad- 
A dy, “that the gnu is a 
very gloomy animal. I 
heard the other day of a 
gnu who had to be kept 
all by himself in the zoo 
The Gnu Said He Was where he belonged be¬ 
cause of his gloomy na¬ 
ture and sullen ways.” 

“Couldn’t the other animals cheer him up?” 
inquired Evelyn. 

“No,” said daddy. “In fact, he made all 
the other animals so depressed that they be¬ 
came as moody as he was. First the keeper 
of the zoo, being very much worried over the 
gnu’s gloominess, put him with the laughing 
hyenas. They think almost everything is 
funny, but when the gnu was put near them 
they stopped their habit of giggling. And it 
was a long time before they laughed again. 

13 






14 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


Next he was put with the monkeys, for the 
keeper thought surely that their antics would 
amuse the gnu. But the monkeys became 
most sullen. 

“Next the keeper tried the jackasses, but in¬ 
stead of their making the gnu feel merry he 
made them pine and droop, and when he 
sneezed they felt frightened and thought 
something dreadful had happened. 

“The only thing that seemed to interest him 
at all was his food, and when he’d see that 
being brought to him he’d lean way over and 
look through the bars of his cage, pulling his 
whiskers. 

“At last the keeper decided he must have 
indigestion, though he only fed him wet and 
dry hay, clover and bran mash, all of which 
is very good for the gnu. But the keeper 
thought that surely the gnu must be sick to 
act so queerly, and at last he had a long talk 
with him. Of course a gnu can’t really talk 
—not even the way a parrot can—but a zoo 
keeper is so used to animal language that he 
can usually understand it. 

“ ‘The reason I seem so gloomy is because 
I’m terribly bored.’ 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 15 

“ ‘Bored!’ exclaimed the keeper. ‘That’s a 
strange thing for you to be. You’re a fine 
animal, you have plenty of other animals to 
talk to, and you get all the food you want 
without having to hunt for it.’ 

“ ‘That’s just it,’ said the gnu. ‘I would 
rather get tired hunting for it than to have it 
given to me without any effort And it does 
bore me so to have people stop and look at 
me.’ 

“ ‘Well, they won’t much longer,’ replied 
the keeper, ‘for you’ll make them cry you’re 
so sad looking, and people don’t like to cry 
and have wet handkerchiefs.’ 

“‘Oh, well, it seems so stupid!’ said the 
gnu. ‘I’m not a beautiful painting nor a 
lovely sunset. I’m nothing worth looking at. 
It’s ridiculous, and it bores me.’ 

“ ‘Take people as you find them and cheer 
up,’ said the keeper.” 


THE PUSSY WHO WANDERED 
FROM HOME 



P 


(USSY hated home. 


JL She liked to go off 
with all the other cats of 
the neighborhood. And 
yet the funniest part was 
that Pussy’s home was so 


Ru wit d h nnimTnt roat delightful. She had as 


nice a home as any little 


cat could wish for. She lived with her 
mother and two little sisters and brothers in 
a kitchen which was part of a very fine house. 

“There they had a box back of the big 
kitchen stove which was full of soft cushions. 
There was always a large bowl of milk on 
the floor in a corner of the kitchen. Three 
times a day they got big meals and quite often 
in between times, for Katy, the cook, was very 
fond of cats and spoiled them. 

“But in spite of all these comforts and lux¬ 
uries Pussy loved to wander. 


16 



DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 17 

“One day after Pussy had been home some 
time, during which the cook, the old mother 
cat and all Pussy’s sisters and brothers had 
tried to make her life in the kitchen so attrac¬ 
tive that she should not want to leave it, off 
she went again. 

“She met some other stray cats, her wild 
friends. They all said: ‘Why do you want 
to be petted by your mother? Aren’t you 
big enough to look after yourself? You 
don’t want to be a little mollycoddle and 
drink milk out of a bowl and have your food 
all cut up for you. That’s simply ridiculous. 
Come with us. We lead a free life and an 
exciting one. We never know when we’ll 
catch a mouse or whether we’ll find anything 
to eat in the garbage tins or not.’ 

“And once more little Pussy was influenced 
by the naughty cats, and off she went with 
them. She got into many a scrimmage, but 
she tried to make herself think it was great 
fun. 

“One night, though, they were all hidden 
in a cellar. They had crawled in through an 
open window through which coal was put in. 
But when they went to get out, having learned 


18 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


there were no mice, they found the window 
had been closed and they could find no way 
of escaping. Oh, how cold it was, and Pussy 
was so hungry! It was dark in the cellar too. 
The icebox was quite empty, and, finding no 
food anywhere, they all began to quarrel. 
Now, in Pussy’s home there was never any 
quarreling, and Pussy felt very unhappy. 
Besides, she was bitterly cold, and her throat 
was sore and swollen. 

“In the morning, though, good luck 
brought the coal man with more coal for the 
cellar, and the window was opened. 

“Pussy simply fled for home. No one 
scolded her when she reached the warm 
kitchen again, and they all acted as though 
they realized she had been taught a severe 
lesson. The cook rubbed liniment on her 
poor swollen throat, and she had such a good 
drink of milk. And never again did Pussy 
leave home!” 


THE ROOSTER WHO DISLIKED 
MOTORCARS 


J ACK and Evelyn had been 
taken to an entertainment 
in the city that afternoon, 
and when daddy came 
home that evening they 
told him all about it. 

The King Rooster 1 - 

Was Crowing. Clever dogs, hens and 
roosters had performed. 
They had tilted on seesaws and had jumped 
ropes and walked ropes. 

“Well,” daddy said, “I will have to tell you 
a story of the rooster who was king of the 
barnyard. 

“It was a big farm on which he lived, and 
there were lots of little coops for chickens. 
On the very cold days they would stay inside, 
but on the warmer days they would play 
around in the sun, pick up seeds and have a 
nice time. 

“Well, one day they were all out having a 

19 








20 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


sun bath, and the king rooster was calling 
‘Cock-a-doodle-do!’ at the top of his lungs, 
while all the others were admiring him. He 
knew they were admiring him, too, and was 
very proud of it. Suddenly a shrieking toot 
was heard, and a motorcar whizzed by. 

“Now, a motorcar was an unusual sight on 
this country road except in midsummer, so 
the rooster was quite disgusted. You see, the 
motor’s horn had taken the attention of the 
barnyard fowls off his solo. 

“So after it had passed, he said: ‘I’ll tell 
you something, now that all this absurd ex¬ 
citement has gone down. Years and years 
ago there were no motors, and there have al¬ 
ways been hens and roosters. Now, isn’t that 
a good point?’ 

“At this all the barnyard creatures hung 
their heads in shame, for their king had cor¬ 
rected them for noticing the motor. 

“ ‘Motors are not at all necessary,’ he con¬ 
tinued, ‘for people have ships to go in when 
they travel on the water. They have trains 
for long distances on land, and they have 
horses and wagons for short distances, and 
that is enough. It’s absurd, and I do not ap- 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 21 


prove of it. Now, people really can’t live 
without us. How could they get along with¬ 
out eggs for breakfast? And what do they 
need of motors? They aren’t good to eat.’ 
(Eating was his idea of bliss, you see.) 
‘They make dust, a lot of noise, and we are 
always having to hurry out of their way on 
the roads in the summer. Don’t you all agree 
with me?’ 

“A little cluck came from each hen. 

“ ‘And will you promise me never to notice 
a motor and never to get in their way so they 
won’t have the chance to toot that common 
horn at us?’ 

“And all the hens clucked again in agree¬ 
ment.” 

“He was a strict rooster, wasn’t he?” said 
Evelyn. 

“And thought a lot of himself, too,” added 
Jack. “And I don’t believe he would have 
liked walking a rope for any master.” 

“Not he,” agreed daddy. 


CLEVER MR. MOLE’S REVENGE 
ON FARMER HICKY 


O F all the animals the 
farmer dislikes,” be¬ 
gan daddy, “I think the 
mole takes the lead, for he 
is more destructive to the 
farmer’s land than any 
other animal if he wishes 
to be. And Mr. Mole 
hates the farmer too. 

“One spring a farmer named Farmer 
Hicky was taking great pains in plowing up 
his fields. But in so doing his plow went 
through Mr. Mole’s house, which was, of 
course, under the ground, and Mr. Mole’s 
lovely little children had their heads cut off 
by Farmer Hicky’s cruel plow. This grieved 
Mr. Mole very much, for the year before 
Mrs. Mole had been killed the same way in 
a similar accident. So now Mr. Mole was 

blind with fury. He vowed he would get 

22 




DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 23 

even with Farmer Hicky even if it took the 
rest of his life to do so. 

“So Mr. Mole lay low until after Farmer 
Hicky had finished all his plowing in the 
field and had commenced his garden. Now 
and then Mr. Mole came out of the ground 
to see how far things were getting along. 
Then he’d put his hea'd in his paws and just 
laugh and laugh, thinking all the time, ‘Well, 
old Farmer Hicky, I’ll get the best of you 
yet.’ 

“He saw that Farmer Hicky had planted 
onions, beans, radishes, potatoes, carrots and 
cucumbers. He waited until they began to 
grow very nicely, which he decided was the 
time for him to begin his work. 

“Farmer Hicky’s farm was very, very 
large, the end of which was on the border of 
a little lake where Farmer Hicky had rows 
of beautiful flowers growing. 

“So Mr. Mole started in to plow up under 
the earth and made his mounds extend out to 
the lake. Each night he would make a new 
one. 

“Farmer Hicky became very much wor¬ 
ried, for gradually he saw all his vegetables 


24 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

uprooted and everything torn up and dying. 
He knew it must be a mole, and he laid all 
sorts of traps to catch him. But Mr. Mole 
was too sharp for the farmer, and, besides, he 
was on the lookout for all such traps, and as 
Mr. Mole was smart enough to do his work 
at . night the farmer could never catch him 
moving under the earth and so catch him that 
way. 

“Finally Farmer Hicky got so angry he 
was raging, and he had all his farm hands try¬ 
ing to locate Mr. Mole and his dogs trying to 
scent where he was. 

“One day the dogs were almost on his trail, 
but they couldn’t scratch up the earth and get 
under the ground as far as little Mr. Mole 
could. The dogs went quickly after him, but 
he beat the dogs right to the lake and jumped 
in the water and landed on the back of his old 
friend, Mr. Turtle, and whispered in his ear 
the tale of his glorious revenge.” 


BR’ER RABBIT’S REVENGE ON 
BR’ER FOX 



Br’er Rabbit Was a 
Very Little Rabbit. 


MUST tell you,” began 
daddy, “about the way 
old Br’er Rabbit tricked 
old Br’er Fox. 

“One day when Br’er 
Rabbit was only a little 
rabbit Br’er Fox played 
him a most unkind trick. 
Br’er Rabbit never forgot it and vowed that 
one day he would revenge himself. 

“You see, it was this way: Br’er Fox con¬ 
sidered the rabbit rather a stupid little thing, 
so he thought it would be fine fun to play a 
joke on him. He therefore told the little 
rabbit that he could find a most beautiful 
clover field where he could gather up all the 
delicious clover he desired. ‘However,’ said 
Br’er Fox, ‘you will find it a long distance 
off and you may get very tired walking there, 
but you will be well rewarded when you do 






26 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


reach the field,’ and he gave the rabbit full 
directions how to get there. 

“Of course rabbits love clover better than 
anything in the world, so off the little rabbit 
started. He walked on and on through the 
woods, ever and ever so far. He wondered if 
he would have the strength to get there, for 
he kept feeling more exhausted at every few 
steps, and he felt he could never reach the 
clover field. He remembered, though, that 
the fox had told him it was a very long dis¬ 
tance, and the thought of clover just managed 
to keep him from dropping down on the 
ground, he was so tired. At last he saw an 
opening from the woods. ‘Ah, I am almost 
there!’ wearily sighed the little rabbit, and he 
began to feel better right away and thought 
the walk home would not be bad at all as long 
as he had clover to eat all the time. But, to 
his horror, what do you suppose he saw? 
Not a sign of clover, but a big field with hay¬ 
stacks and plowed earth and stones! He then 
said that Br’er Fox had played a very mean 
joke on him. But it was getting late, and he 
was always frightened after dark. He sadly 
and painfully made his way home. 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 27 

“Well, the little rabbit never forgot this, 
and when he grew up he vowed he would 
trick Br’er Fox. Of course Br’er Fox had 
forgotten about the story of the clover field, 
and, anyway, he knew Br’er Rabbit had al¬ 
ways been somewhat afraid of him. So he 
was not at all wary when Br’er Rabbit told 
him of a splendid tree where he would find a 
deserted beehive and plenty of honey. Br’er 
Fox smacked his lips together, for honey he 
adored, and off he went. 

“He found the tree and was just putting his 
nose into the honey when out flew countless 
bees, who lighted all over his face and tail. 
Oh, how he yelled with pain! His face was 
so swollen he could scarcely see, but he went 
back and called on Br’er Rabbit and said to 
him: 

“ ‘I deserve this, for I now realize how 
mean I was to you when you were little. 
Now we’re even, so let’s be good friends for¬ 
evermore.’ And they clasped paws in agree¬ 
ment.” 


THE PIG WHO HAD NO TABLE 
MANNERS 


O H, daddy, won’t you 
please tell us a story 
about yourself when you 
were a little boy?” asked 
Jack. 

“Well, children, I can’t 
tell you much that I did, 
for when I was a boy I 
lived on a large plantation and my daddy 
kept me very, very busy attending to a good 
many of the animals. I had lots of fun, 
though, for I remember it with a lot of pleas¬ 
ure. Of course, like all children, I had my 
pet animals, and, now, which do you suppose 
were my pets?” 

“The white rabbits,” chirped up Jack. 

“Oh, no,” said daddy; “I claimed the pigs! 
One little pig, though, caused me a great deal 
of trouble and worry and also gave his fond 

mother many sleepless nights, for he was a 

28 



v... .,,7 

The Pig Would Climb 
on the Table. 




DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 29 

great rover and would sneak out of his sty and 
roam the woods over and over. He did have 
fine old times, though, for in the woods he’d 
meet good natured old Br’er B’ar, who took 
quite a shine to little Look-a-do, as his mother 
called him, and gave fine parties for him. 
Look-a-do would dress in his best clothes and 
go to Br’er B’ar’s parties, where the foxes and 
mountain goats would also be invited. They 
would have fine things to eat—all kinds of 
wild birds, acorn pudding, wonderful peanut 
bread that old B’ar prided himself upon mak¬ 
ing, honey and persimmon ale instead of 
water, for that is a very fine drink, even better 
than lemonade, I imagine. 

“The foxes, as you know, are very careful 
about their table manners and also extremely 
proud and were quite disgusted with little 
Piggy Look-a-do’s table manners, for instead 
of saying ‘Thank you,’ he’d just grunt when 
anything was passed to him. He swallowed 
his food without chewing it at all. He would 
reach across the table, and if he couldn’t 
reach a thing he’d climb on the table, much 
to the horror of all the other animals. Well, 
in fact, he behaved so badly that all his other 


30 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

nice mannered playmates simply would not 
have anything to do with him and just called 
him ‘pig.’ 

“Even Br’er B’ar couldn’t like him because 
of his bad manners, and finally he just had to 
go out and root in the ground for something 
to eat. Of course when he did that he ruined 
his lovely little clothes, his white shoes and 
trousers became all muddy, and his little 
speckled coat got very rusty looking. 

“Piggy Look-a-do realized that he was los¬ 
ing his good looks, for his little pink nose 
looked white and his eyes very dull. He was 
too proud to return home to his mother, so he 
wandered through the woods trying to find 
something to eat. Finally he came to an 
apple orchard belonging to a mountaineer. 
This was the end of poor Piggy Look-a-do, 
for the next day he was killed and came on 
the table, roasted nice and brown, with a big 
red apple in his mouth, and made a fine feast 
for the old mountaineer and his family.” 




























THE GOOD AND THE BAD 
ROOSTER 


J ACK’S and Evelyn’s fa¬ 
vorite uncle had just ar¬ 
rived from Japan, and 
they had been begging 
him to tell them a story. 
“But I thought daddy 

The Bad Rooster Got always did that,” Said 
Into a Fight. uncle 

“Oh, he does usually!” answered Jack, “but 
we’d like to hear one of yours this evening.” 

“Well, now,” said daddy, “it’s come to a 
pretty pass. Here I’ve been telling you a 
story every night for ever and ever so long, 
and now uncle comes along—almost a stran¬ 
ger—and you desert old daddy and ask for 
one of uncle’s stories.” 

“Oh, we love your stories, daddy!” said 
Jack and Evelyn. 

“You see,” said uncle, “it’s the new thing 
we all like.” 



31 





32 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

Daddy laughed and said, “Well, I’ll listen, 
anyway.” So uncle began: 

“Once upon a time there were two little 
chickens. One was very good and always did 
what old Mother Hen told him to, but the 
other chicken was very bad—would tease his 
little sisters and fight with his neighbors. 
His mother warned him, saying, ‘Now, if you 
aren’t good some harm will surely come to 
you.’ But the little chicken paid no attention 
and strutted around, thinking he knew every¬ 
thing there was to know. 

“Time went along, and the chickens grew 
up into roosters. The good chicken turned 
out to be a very beautiful rooster, with a fine 
red tuft and perfect feathers. The naughty 
chicken was not nearly so fine looking, as he 
had been in so many fights he looked quite 
scratched and scrawny, and as he had always 
wandered off and eaten anything he pleased 
his plumage was not nearly so nice as his 
brother’s. 

“One day the bad rooster got in the most 
awful fight, in which he lost an eye. Oh, 
how he then yelled for his Mother Hen and 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 33 


his brother, and they bathed his wounds and 
tried to comfort him. 

“After a few weeks the bad rooster had 
fully recovered, but he now only had one eye, 
and he missed ever and ever so many worms 
that his good brother was able to see and pick 
up, nor could he run very fast, as he was so 
apt to stumble and fall. But what made him 
feel most ashamed was that all the little 
chickens were shown the difference between 
the rooster who had always done what his 
mother had told him to and the bad rooster 
with only one eye who had always been dis¬ 
obedient. 

“The bad rooster was a much older and 
sadder rooster than his brother, who, of 
course, still looked fine and young. But he 
became very kind, and all the little chickens 
would get him to tell them stories. But they 
could never forget that he had lost one eye in 
a fight, and a very peaceable and fine set of 
roosters resulted from the naughty rooster’s 
sad experiences.” 


THE WALTZING MICE AND 
THEIR OPENING BALL 


t4 "VrOU know,” said daddy, 
A “there are kinds of 
mice called the waltzing 
mice.” 

“I didn’t know that,” 
said Jack. “Are they fond 

They Gave a Ball in of jumping around? Is 
Their New Home. t h at w hy they are called 

waltzing mice, daddy?” 

“No,” continued daddy; “they don’t just 
jump around and frisk about, but they really 
dance.” 

“Do they waltz just like real people?” 
asked Evelyn. 

“Yes, indeed,” said daddy; “they waltz 
around and around, but all by themselves, 
and they dance just as fast as they can. They 
love it better than anything else. In fact, I 
think they even care more for waltzing than 
they do for eating.” 





DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 35 


“I didn’t know any animal cared more for 
anything than eating,” chimed in Jack. 

“Well, the waltzing mice are different. 
They will waltz all day long, and they never 
seem to get tired of it. 

“Once there were a number of mice who 
had been living in a cellar of a house. One 
day one mouse heard one of the grownup peo¬ 
ple in the house say that they were going to 
get a big cat and have him live in the cellar, 
as they had been much disturbed by the 
sounds of mice and feared they would be 
overrun by them. 

“But this frightened the mice terribly, and 
they didn’t know what they could do. So 
one of the older ones said he would spend the 
next day looking around for a new home. 

“At night he came back in very high 
spirits, saying that he had discovered an ideal 
home and a very grand one. It was in a barn 
not far from where they were, where there 
was plenty of room for waltzing and also 
warm hay for them to sleep in at night. All 
the mice at once began to waltz around with 
joy, for they had been worrying about the cat 
all day long. 


36 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


“However, the old mouse was very wise 
and prudent, and he stopped them, saying, 
‘We must hurry and get out before the cat is 
brought here.’ So one by one they filed 
through a narrow hole and out into a side 
street, where they scampered after the old 
mouse to their new, safe home. 

“They were perfectly delighted with the 
barn, which seemed like a palace to them 
after the dingy cellar, and they all felt so 
happy and so secure now that they had es¬ 
caped in time. So they soon cleared away 
some hay in the center of the barn and sent 
for a lot of their friends and gave a fine open¬ 
ing ball in their new, beautiful home.” 


THE MOLE AND TURTLE OPEN 
A STORE 


46 T’VE told you, children,” 
Jl said daddy, “how a little 
mole, who had got even 
with old Farmer Hicky for 
plowing off the heads of 
his children, had escaped 
from the farmer’s angry 
hands to his friend, Mr. 
Turtle, in the big lake. 

“Now, Mr. Turtle was very kind to Mr. 
Mole, for he knew how sad Mr. Mole felt 
losing his wife and all his children. How¬ 
ever, Mr. Turtle was none too rich, and Mr. 
Mole had, of course, broken up his old home 
and was very, very poor. So one day he said 
to Mr. Turtle: ‘Let’s start a little store on 
the bank on the other side of the lake.’ 

“So to work they both set with great vim. 
Mr. Turtle carried mud on his back of shell 
and Mr. Mole carried sticks to the spot which 

37 






38 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

they picked out as the site for the store. 
Then they began to build. Mr. Turtle had 
more ideas than Mr. Mole, but Mr. Mole 
was a better worker. At the end of a few 
days the store was finished, and Mr. Turtle 
and Mr. Mole sent around notices printed on 
leaves which read: ‘Fresh fish, fresh fruit, 
fresh pastry, at the new store. Turtle & 
Mole Bros.’ 

“All the animals around began to do their 
shopping at the new store. The rabbits, 
molly cottontails, chipmunks, squirrels, toads 
and frogs all did their marketing there, and 
each day they bought more and more, for Mr. 
Turtle and Mr. Mole had such delicious 
things to sell. They kept the store open all 
day, and at night they put all their provisions 
away, while Mr. Turtle went fishing and Mr. 
Mole got fresh berries and made most won¬ 
derful blackberry tarts, and he cooked the 
most delicious pastry. The animals around 
would see the smoke curl out of the little 
stone chimney of the store and would think, 
‘Ah, there are those delicious pastries being 
made by Mr. Mole!’ and the next day they 
would all go and buy them. 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 39 


“The store grew so in wealth that Mr. Tur¬ 
tle and Mr. Mole decided to add a tearoom, 
which they did. It was most attractively 
fixed with leaves and blossoms, and for tables 
they had smooth rocks which they covered 
with leaves. The afternoon planned for the 
opening came, and all the animals dressed up 
in their best. One very dressy old rabbit 
wore a high silk hat and carried a cane. The 
animals enjoyed the tearoom so much that 
every afternoon it was the center of animal 
fashion and beauty. 

“But alas, one night, when all had been 
going so well, Mr. Mole smelled smoke and, 
looking out of the door, saw all the woods 
ablaze and almost reaching their store. Mr. 
Mole shrieked to Mr. Turtle, ‘The woods are 
afire!’ and they jumped into the lake and es¬ 
caped with their lives. 

“I’ve often wondered,” continued daddy, 
“if they ever rebuilt their successful store 
again, but I fully expect they have ere this.” 


BILLY BEAVER’S HOME FOR HIS 
BRIDE 


“T SUPPOSE,” said dad- 
A dy, “the most industri¬ 
ous and capable little ani¬ 
mal is the beaver, for he 
can even help grownup 
men. When men are about 
to build bridges and they 
see that beavers are near 
by they are delighted, for they know beavers 
enjoy working and will help them greatly 
with the bridge building, and they’re such a 
little animal, too, that it is really wonderful 
how much they can do. 

“Billy Beaver had just asked Miss Jennie 
Beaver to marry him, and as she had con¬ 
sented Billy wanted to build a fine new house 
for their home. So he wandered all over the 
woods seeing where he thought the best place 
would be to have it. Of course he also 
wanted to be near some water, for the beaver 

40 



He Worked 
Busily. 




DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 41 

loves swimming, and he uses the mud at the 
bottom of lakes and ponds to help him with 
his building. So at last he settled on the spot. 
It was in a lovely part of the woods where 
there were huge pine trees, and near by was 
a narrow river with mossy banks on either 
side where he could make plenty of holes in 
which to hide if he thought he was either be¬ 
ing watched or disturbed. Finally he set to 
work. He first began by burrowing a tree. 
He arranged to burrow from a certain side 
so it would fall in the opposite direction, for 
beavers always arrange in which direction a 
tree will fall. They are very fussy about the 
exact spot they want the tree to be, and so they 
take all this care. Billy Beaver went into the 
river and dug up some mud. He carried it 
on his tail and swam to the bank with it. 
Then he climbed up the bank and left the 
mud on one side of the tree. This he did 
again and again, for he wanted plenty of mud 
to stand on while working. Of course Billy 
was very small, and he had picked out a huge 
tree to burrow. 

“At last, though, after days and days of 
very hard work the tree began to waver, and 


42 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

in a few more days down it fell. Next Billy 
fixed the inside of his house in the hollow of 
the tree, and with lots and lots of moss and 
mud he made it very comfortable, according 
to his idea of comfort. 

“Soon the day came for Jennie Beaver to 
see her new home, and Billy was wild with 
excitement wondering how she would like it. 
Billy wasn’t conceited. 

“But Billy could not help being a little 
proud of his new home, for he had planned it 
and worked over it with might and main to 
make it a lovely home. 

“When Jennie Beaver arrived Billy could 
hardly wait to hear what she would say. 

“ ‘Oh,’ she exclaimed, ‘I think it’s the most 
marvelous home I’ve ever seen, and I think 
you are the most wonderful beaver!’ 

“So Billy was well rewarded for his hard 
work, and he felt himself to be a very lucky 
beaver.” 


THE CHIPMUNKS’ AND SQUIR¬ 
RELS’ SNOW BATTLE 


T HE gray squirrels had 
built a snow fort,” 
began daddy. “It had all 
the fortifications of a real 
fort. It was beautifully 
banked all the way 
around, and there was a 
low, secret tunnel through 
the snow by which the squirrels could enter 
without being seen. In the center of the fort 
there were plenty of fine, round snowballs in 
readiness for a battle which they hoped 
would take place any moment, and there were 
holes in the fort so they could see their enemy. 
Now, all they wanted was the enemy. And 
soon the chipmunks, upon seeing the snow fort 
of the gray squirrels, determined they would 
build one also, and so they set to work. 

“This was just what the gray squirrels 
wanted, and they were delighted watching the 

43 



“I’ve come to see you,” 
said the Squirrel. 



44 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


chipmunks’ snow fort being built. The gray 
squirrels tried to watch and see where the 
chipmunks would build their secret tunnel. 
The chipmunks were very careful not to let 
the gray squirrels find out. When the fort 
was built the gray squirrels hadn’t the faintest 
idea where the tunnel could be. 

“The gray squirrels sent their general, who 
was a big, fat squirrel, over to the chipmunks’ 
fort. He carried a snowball on a stick, which 
meant a flag of peace until real war was de¬ 
clared. 

“ ‘I’ve come to see,’ said the gray squirrel 
general in a loud, sharp voice, ‘if you’d like 
to fight.’ 

“A fat chipmunk, who was their general, 
looked out of one of the holes and said, ‘We’d 
love to fight.’ 

“As the gray squirrel general was about to 
leave the chipmunk general called after him, 
‘What will we fight about?’ 

“ ‘Oh, we’ll fight about land!’ said the gray 
squirrel. ‘If you win you’ll own our fort, 
and if we win we’ll own yours.’ 

“The gray squirrel general returned to his 
fort to say that war was declared, and they 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 45 

were all so glad to hear the good news that 
they squeaked with delight. 

“At 3 the battle commenced. Such a furi¬ 
ous battle as it was! The snowballs went 
back and forth from one fort to the other, and 
such screaming and excitement you never did 
hear. For over an hour the battle raged, and 
as neither side seemed to be getting much 
ahead they climbed on top of their forts and 
threw the snowballs from there. But neither 
fort was strong enough to hold so many squir¬ 
rels and chipmunks, and the forts fell down, 
and as the snowballs had melted down into 
nothingness the battle had to be called off. 

“But they agreed to have another battle as 
soon as they had time to rebuild their forts, for 
they thought snow battles were the greatest 
fun in the world.” 


THE RABBITS’ ICEBOATING 
JOLLIFICATION 

I MUST tell you,” said 
daddy, “about the rab¬ 
bits’ iceboating party. A 
big pond, which was very 
near the field where a great 
many rabbits lived—in fact, 
so many rabbits lived in the 
field that it was called Rab¬ 
bit village—had frozen over. 

“The rabbits wasted no time in sending out 
invitations for an iceboating party. They 
had plenty of boards to use as boats, and they 
made sails out of branches of evergreen trees. 
The rabbits are devoted to sports and can al¬ 
ways think of ways to have the best times 
imaginable. The rabbits thought they’d have 
their party in the afternoon, for then the wind 
blew the strongest and in the evening it was 
apt to die down. 

“There were so many rabbits living in Rab- 

46 





DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 47 


bit village that the ones who first thought of 
the party considered a long time before they 
decided whether or not they’d invite any out¬ 
siders to the party. After a meeting of some 
of the leading rabbits in the village who had 
been chosen to decide this important matter 
it was agreed upon that the possum family 
would be invited. Now, the possums lived 
very near the rabbits, so near that they had 
been able to watch the rabbits make iceboats, 
and they wondered who would be invited to 
the party, for they were certain the rabbits 
were going to give a party. So they were 
pleased when they received their invitation, 
and when they got to the party and found that 
they were the only outside guests invited they 
were still happier. 

“The wind was very high. And, oh, how 
the boats did skim across the ice! Such 
squeals of joy as you never heard in all your 
lives came forth from the rabbits and pos¬ 
sums. But, alas, a dreadful accident hap¬ 
pened. In sailing over a bit of thin ice the 
sail of the boat containing Jimmie Possum 
and Harry Rabbit fell over, and the boat 
went through the ice. Such a cry as Jimmie 


48 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


Possum and Harry Rabbit did let off! All 
the other possums and rabbits hurried to the 
rescue. Neither Jimmie Possum nor Harry 
Rabbit were good swimmers, and the water 
was so cold they would have drowned at once 
had not old Grandpa Rabbit, with great pres¬ 
ence of mind, thrown out a pole, which Jim¬ 
mie Possum and Harry Rabbit got hold of, 
and so were pulled out of the ice. 

“ ‘Exercise, exercise; that’s the best thing 
after falling in the ice!’ cried Grandpa Rab¬ 
bit. And he produced a bag of skates, which 
he had brought along in case the wind had 
gone down or that iceboating had grown tire¬ 
some to them. 

“So they all skated with as much vim as 
they had shown in the iceboating, and Jimmie 
.Possum and Harry Rabbit, who both quickly 
recovered, enjoyed being the heroes of the 
day.” 


THE INDIAN MONGOOSE AND 
THE WOODSMAN 


T ELL us a story about 
some animal we’ve 
never heard of before,” 
asked Jack as daddy was 
about to begin his bed¬ 
time story. 

“Let me think,” said 
daddy; “there are so few 
animals you two children haven’t seen pic¬ 
tures of, seen in the zoo or heard me tell sto¬ 
ries about.” 

“Do think of a new one, though. You 
surely can,” said Evelyn. 

“Well, have you ever heard of the Indian 
mongoose?” 

“No,” said Jack. “Tell us about him.” 

“Is he an animal or person?” asked Evelyn 
uncertainly. 

“Oh, he is an animal and a very real one,” 
said daddy. “He’s a great friend to the 







50 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


woodsman, for he lives always in the woods, 
and every time he sees a poisonous snake he 
does his best to kill him. 

“I’m going to tell you a special story. One 
time a young woodsman, with several other 
friends, came to the part of the woods where 
the little Indian mongoose I’m going to tell 
you about lived. In fact, they pitched their 
tent very, very near the mongoose’s home. 
This little mongoose lived all alone, and 
sometimes he used to get pretty lonely. So 
he was awfully happy to see the woodsman’s 
camping party, for he was very fond of hu¬ 
man people. 

“One day the woodsman and his camping 
party started on a walking trip through the 
woods. They carried sacks on their backs 
which held their lunch. 

“The little Indian mongoose had watched 
all their plans without being seen. He said 
also to himself that he would follow, unseen 
by them, for he had become attached to his 
new neighbors. He dreaded the harm that 
might come to them if they went into some 
parts of the woods. They had not gone very 
far when the little mongoose, who was run- 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 51 

ning ahead, heard a hissing sound and a rustle 
through the leaves. 

“The mongoose pricked up his ears, for, of 
course, he knew it must be a snake, and the 
men were almost up to him. 

“Without waiting to draw a breath he 
bravely jumped on the snake and killed him 
before the creature could shoot forth his poi¬ 
sonous fangs. 

“The woodsman and his friends were just 
in time to see the mongoose kill the snake. 

“ ‘You’ve saved our lives!’ cried the woods¬ 
man. 

“Oh, how pleased the little mongoose was! 
During the rest of the camping party the lit¬ 
tle mongoose went on all their walks with 
them, and when the party broke up the 
woodsman, who had a lovely country home, 
took the Indian mongoose home with him. 
Such good friends as they were! And once 
a year the mongoose would go along, too, on 
the camping party.” 


THE ELEPHANTS’ RETURN TO 
THE CIRCUS 


A N elephant named 

Johnovan had lived 
for many years with a cir¬ 
cus,” began daddy, “and 
one day he made up his 
mind he was tired of circus 
“ L te e of a £ m said life. The traveling at 
night in close cars along 
rough roads he hated, and the walking in a 
parade every morning when he’d not had 
nearly enough sleep annoyed him very much. 
Then, of course, there were always two circus 
performances each day, and, in short, Johno¬ 
van thought life was very tiresome and that 
he’d like to run away. It made him very 
cross to smell the pot of vegetable soup which 
was put on to cook during the performances, 
so that afterward the performers would have 
something ready to eat. Johnovan always 
wanted a taste of that soup. 

52 




DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 53 

“So he said to the other two elephants who 
belonged to the circus, ‘Let’s escape.’ 

“ ‘How?’ they both shouted in amazement. 

“ ‘Well,’ said Johnovan, ‘I’ll think it over 
during the performance this afternoon, and 
this evening we’ll leave in the middle of 
another act.’ 

“After the afternoon’s performance Johno¬ 
van said: ‘It’s all arranged. We’ll meet 
back of the big tent just after our march in¬ 
side. Then all the circus people will be in 
the tent, and we’ll be able to escape.’ 

“Of course the one thing in their minds was 
that they could always do just as they pleased 
and at the right time they all met back of the 
big tent. 

“ ‘Follow me,’ said Johnovan, and they 
linked their trunks together and followed 
Johnovan for what seemed a terrific distance. 
Finally he stopped and said, ‘I think we’re 
safe enough now.’ 

“So they settled down for the night, and 
pretty tired they were, for the long tramp had 
been as tiresome as the train trip, and a little 
more tired in fact. 

“The next day the circus they’d belonged 


54 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


to pitched the tent not far from the elephants’ 
new home. 

“Now, you know that elephants have won¬ 
derful memories, and they knew exactly the 
time the vegetable soup would be put on for 
cooking. So at the right time when the cir¬ 
cus was going on, they quietly went to the 
back of the tent and took the vegetable soup 
off the fire. But one of the circus performers 
came out and saw the missing elephants. 
The elephants hadn’t enjoyed ‘camp life,’ and 
they rejoiced at being captured. 

“‘You like vegetable soup, do you?’ said 
the circus performer. ‘Well, you shall have 
all you want.’ 

“So the elephants had a splendid meal, the 
first they’d had since they’d left the circus, 
after which they performed their tricks dur¬ 
ing the last act, and all the applause they got 
made them very happy.” 


THE BIG DOG WHO WAS FRIGHT¬ 
ENED BY A BUG 


W ELL, daddy, we’re 
all ready for our 
story. What’s it going to 
be about to-night?” ex¬ 
claimed Jack and Evelyn 
as daddy came into their 
room. 

“Dear me,” sighed dad¬ 
dy; “you two dear little children will barely 
let me get my breath!” 

“Oh, daddy,” said Evelyn, “we don’t mean 
to be selfish, but your story is the nicest part 
of the day, and we look forward to bedtime 
because of that.” 

“Neither of you is selfish, and I’m a very 
happy daddy to have two such nice children 
to whom to tell stories.” 

Daddy smiled and began: “To-day from 
my office window in the city I saw quite an 
interesting thing. You know, the roofs of 

55 



He Leaped Out of the 
Window. 






56 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

the houses and buildings are so near together 
that they are almost like a sidewalk. One 
could really quite easily walk from one roof 
to the other. 

“Well, there was a big brown dog sitting 
by an open window overlooking the roof. 
What should he spy but a brown bug which 
looked very much like a beetle. The dog 
was very much interested in the bug. 

“Well, he stepped out of the window and 
on the roof. There he sat watching the bug 
with a fixed gaze. He evidently was rather 
afraid of it, for he’d step a little nearer and 
then sit down again as if to say: 

“ ‘I’m not going to take any chances. That 
may be a beautiful bug to look at, but he may 
be a poisonous one.’ 

“However, he was very curious, for he’d 
apparently never seen just such a bug before. 
It was the funniest thing, though, to see the 
bug. He was enjoying the sunshine very 
much and was quite indifferent to the dog. 
The dog neither frightened nor interested 
him. 

“After a little while the dog began to bark 
at the bug. But still the bug paid no atten- 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 57 

tion, and this annoyed the dog so much that 
he began to bark quite furiously. However, 
the bug enjoyed the sunshine too much to 
leave it, and the dog gave up barking, for 
the bug finally decided to move; not at all 
as if he were being frightened away, but just 
as if he thought it was time to be going home. 

“The dog followed along the roof, but 
keeping quite a little distance behind. After 
the bug had walked over to the second roof, 
to his horror the dog saw the bug had a big 
family and his home was in a hole near a 
chimney. 

“The great big dog fled from the little bugs 
and disappeared again through the open win¬ 
dow. 

“So the little brown bug, who was really 
quite harmless, was safe from the big dog be¬ 
cause he acted so indifferently.” 


THE DEVOTED BUNNY BONNIE 
RABBIT 


“ 13 UNNY RABBIT was 
D very young. He’d 
only just left home. His 
mother had been caught in 
a horrid, cruel trap and 
had been killed. So Bun¬ 
ny was left all alone. His 
daddy didn’t care for such 
a little, ugly black and white rabbit, and his 
brothers and sisters considered themselves too 
grown up for him,” daddy began. 

“Poor Bunny was heartbroken at the death 
of his mother rabbit, and the tears fell fast 
from his little pink eyes. 

“A little girl named Marjery happened to 
be taking a walk by herself. She was enjoy¬ 
ing the wind and the cool air and thought 
walking was a splendid amusement. Sud¬ 
denly she spied the lonely Bunny. ‘Oh, you 

58 



He Bounded on the 
Bed. 







DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 59 


darling little Bunny!’ she called. ‘You look 
so lonely. Come with me. I’ve always 
longed for a pet Bunny rabbit. I shall call 
you Bunny Bonnie, and you’ll come home and 
be my pet Bunny, won’t you?’ Bunny Bonnie 
couldn’t answer, of course, but he nestled close 
in her arms as she picked him up. It felt so 
soothing to have some one comfort him and 
pet him again. And Bunny Bonnie lived in a 
home Marjery had made for him in her own 
little garden. 

“Marjery still took many walks, but always 
brought back to Bunny Bonnie a present. It 
was something to eat, as they were the presents 
Bunny Bonnie loved best. 

“But on one of these walks Marjery wan¬ 
dered into the woods where the snow was melt¬ 
ing and got her feet very wet. When she 
came home she was sneezing frantically, and 
by evening she had developed a high fever and 
was aching all over. The next day she was so 
ill that the doctor had to be sent for. 

“Marjery’s mother promised her that she 
would feed Bunny Bonnie just the same as 
usual. But somehow Bunny didn’t feel hun¬ 
gry. He couldn’t understand why Marjery 


6 o DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


didn’t come to him, and all day long he had no 
heart for playing. 

“Marjery’s mother had tried to tempt 
Bunny Bonnie with goodies to eat. But, no; 
Bunny Bonnie was a changed rabbit! He 
would not play nor would he eat, and finally 
Marjery’s mother decided she’d take him to 
Marjery’s bedroom. 

“So she took Bunny Bonnie up in her arms 
and carried him into the house and up into 
Marjery’s room. Never did you see such a 
changed rabbit! He bounded on the bed and 
frisked and jumped about with joy. 

“He plainly showed his joy. He was more 
than happy, for in his little rabbit way he had 
worried frightfully over the absence of Mar- 
jery. He just got up by her on the pillow and 
nestled down by her shoulder. Then he ate 
the clover Marjery gave him.” 


THE SPRING WORK FOR THE 
SQUIRRELS 


46 A LITTLE girl named 
Gwen had fixed a 
squirrel house on a pear 
tree near an old apple tree. 
From the little house the 
squirrels could jump about 
the branches, and that is 
what squirrels enjoy do¬ 
ing. They certainly had the most beautiful 
time playing,” said daddy as he began Jack’s 
and Evelyn’s story. 

“Now, the apple tree was near Gwen’s bed¬ 
room, and the squirrels could jump from the 
apple tree to her window sill, where they were 
very likely to find nuts waiting for them. 

“When the days began to get a little warmer 
Gwen hung just outside the window sill a little 
hammock and waited to see if the squirrels 
would dare to swing in it. Having all the 

nuts Gwen put on her window sill and seeing 
61 



They Found Plenty 
of Nuts. 












62 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

her do such kind things so often made them 
pretty tame. And, too, they appeared to 
realize that it was Gwen who had seen to the 
building of the little house. 

“But the hammock seemed very strange to 
them at first. However, one very brave squir¬ 
rel thought he’d try it and jumped into the 
hammock. Gwen was watching back of a 
curtain, and it was all she could do to keep 
from crying aloud with joy, for she was so 
pleased that one of the squirrels was actually 
using her little hammock. After awhile the 
other squirrels tried it. 

“Before long one of the old squirrels began 
to scold for all he was worth. Oh, he was 
very much annoyed, and all the squirrels 
stopped swinging in the hammock. They 
seemed to be paying great attention to the old 
squirrel, and Gwen wondered what it was all 
about. 

“The old squirrel was the leader, and he 
was the one who always gave the directions 
and did all the managing. This, in squirrel 
language, was what he said: 

“ ‘Now, don’t you know you can’t spend all 
your time idling! You are the laziest lot of 



“ ‘this is the season for us to tap the sirup from the maple 

TREES, AND YOU ARE SPENDING YOUR TIME SWINGING IN A HAM¬ 
MOCK.’ ” —Page 63 












» 







i 












t 






i 


























DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 63 

squirrels I have ever known. Don’t you know 
that you must get to work? This is the season 
for us to tap the sirup from the maple trees, 
and you are spending your time swinging in a 
hammock. It is all very well to play, but 
then there is work to be done. We don’t want 
to waste our time and let all the good sap go, 
do we? And you really do want the maple 
sirup, don’t you?’ 

“Off they started to scamper to the nearest 
maple tree. Gwen put on her hat and coat 
and followed along to see what they were go¬ 
ing to do. They got all the sap they wanted 
and smacked their lips over it. They en¬ 
joyed the work really, for it meant gc ’ 
to follow, and they were glad the wise old 
squirrel had told them about it in plenty of 
time.” 


THE WOLVES WHO DREADED 
A ZOO LIFE 


44 TT was very wild and 
X lonely in the dark 
woods where Johnnie 
Wolf and his family lived. 
But he was a home body 
and liked to be alone with 
He Dropped His Bag his family. The people in 
'V-■»* the nearest village had 

heard that a family of wolves lived in the 
forest, so do you blame them for not going 
there?” said daddy. 

“I should say not,” said Jack. “I should 
think they would have been afraid that the 
wolves would plunder their village at night. 
I have heard of wolves doing such things, 
haven’t you, daddy?” 

“Yes,” said daddy, “I have, and newcomers 
to the village used to be very much frightened 
that this might happen. They would be as- 

64 






DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 65 

sured by the villagers that such a thing never 
had happened and never would happen, but 
still for a long time they would be afraid. 

“The wolves were perfectly satisfied with 
the woods and had no desire to leave. They 
could get all they wanted to eat there, and 
really they thought that people were not at 
all nice. You see, Johnnie Wolf had told 
them how his great-aunt had been taken by 
some traveling men and sent to spend the rest 
of her life in a zoo. They all dreaded a simi¬ 
lar fate for themselves, and so they really were 
very much afraid of people. 

“Now, one of the newcomers in the village 
said that he didn’t believe thai there were 
wolves in the woods. He said that he had 
never heard of wolves living near a village 
and not going to it at night to steal. You see, 
he didn’t know the reason the wolves had for 
not going to the village. 

“He then decided that he would go and 
find out for himself. The people all told him 
how foolish he was, but he insisted, and off 
he went. 

“He took a bag with food in it. He meant 
to fling it at any wolves he might see so they 


66 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


wouldn’t touch him. But he didn’t really 
think that he would see any. 

“He had not gone very far, however, when 
he heard really frightful sounds. It was 
merely the wolves having a little chat together, 
but to the man it sounded very awful, and he 
wished with all his soul that he had taken the 
advice of the people in the village. 

“The wolves suddenly spied him. They 
all put their paws over their eyes so they could 
see the intruder better. The man looked at 
them with a fixed gaze by which wild animals 
are always supposed to be fascinated. Then 
he dropped his bag of food and fled through 
the woods to tne village, shouting, ‘There are 
wolves!’ 

“And the wolves howled to themselves and 
to one another, ‘Saved from a zoo!’ ” 


THE BROWN COTTON TAIL 
RABBIT 



2 l 44 "\7DU know,” said the 


A brown cotton tail rab¬ 
bit, whose name was Mr. 
Fuzzy Brown Cotton Tail, 
“I don’t like to brag or 
boast, but I do think our 


The Brown Cotton family are the most sensi- 


Tails Listened. 


ble and the bravest animals 


there are in the world.” v 

“I agree with you perfectly,” said Mrs. 
Fuzzy Brown Cotton Tail. 

“You see,” continued Mr. Fuzzy Brown 
Cotton Tail, “all winter the raccoon snoozes 
in a beech tree. The gray and red squirrels 
have luxurious nooks, always near their pri¬ 
vate and well filled storehouses. The chip¬ 
munks in their slightly underground homes 
always prepare beforehand for the hard, cold 
winter. The muskrats build their huts be¬ 
neath the ice and are just as warm under there 


67 






68 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


as if the ice were the warm sun. Even the 
bloodthirsty weasel is lazy. The fox does far 
less hunting and a great deal more sleeping, 
which is very stupid of him, but we—well, we 
are always wideawake and busy too.” 

Now, as Mrs. Fuzzy Brown Cotton Tail 
agreed with him and as the little brown cotton 
tail rabbits all agreed with him, there was no 
argument to be had, which was really what 
Mr. Fuzzy Brown Cotton Tail wanted. So 
he continued to talk, for he enjoyed it very 
much. 

“Now, you see,” he continued, “when spring 
comes and the warm days are here the animals 
who have been lazy and sleeping all winter in 
warm beds begin to think of getting up. The 
warm rains, the bright sun and the springing 
up of all the little tender shoots in the woods 
make them all feel just like getting up. 

“But just imagine—think of what they’ve 
missed! They have had none of the fun of 
hunting for their food when it’s hard to get. 
They simply find out the easiest way to live 
and then live that way. Fancy getting all 
your food months in advance! It’s ridiculous, 
and it doesn’t show character. It’s character 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 69 

to stay awake all winter and hurry around 
when it’s cold to get breakfast and to resist 
the wintry winds and snows and say to our¬ 
selves that we won’t be beaten by a cold day. 
Then when spring does come we enjoy pluck¬ 
ing up the tender plants that grow in the 
woods, and we enjoy the young buds.” 

Now, all the little brown cotton tails listened 
to his speech with a great deal of interest and 
admiration. So they jumped up and down 
and said, “Fine, fine!” 

Mr. Fuzzy Brown Cotton Tail was so set 
up at his own speech that he was pleased at 
the applause of the little rabbits. 

“The reason Fm telling you all this,” he 
continued once more, “is because I want you 
all to feel grateful, to be glad that you’re not 
foxes or weasels or muskrats, but just to be 
glad that you’re brown cotton tail rabbits.” 


HOW THE CAT’S BANQUET 
STOPPED THE TRAFFIC 



J 


rACK and Evelyn used to 
often wonder why daddy 
never seemed to say anything 
about the traffic in the city. 
When they went to the city 


The Cat picked the they were always at first 


Choicest Meat. a f ra id 0 f all the noise and 


the quantities of cars and 


autos and trucks that moved so quickly along 
the streets. 

After they’d been there awhile they realized 
that everything was managed so beautifully 
by the big policeman that there was nothing 
to be frightened at. But they always thought 
seeing so much traffic was wonderful. 

“Everything does go just like clockwork in 
the city, doesn’t it, daddy?” said Evelyn. 

“Yes,” said daddy; “it certainly does, as a 
rule. But I must tell you of a funny thing 
that happened one evening in a very busy part 
of the city. 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 71 

“A cat discovered there was a tiny piece of 
glass broken in the window of a butcher shop. 
Now, you can just imagine how quickly the 
cat got through that window! 

“There was one light burning in the shop, 
although, of course, the shop was closed for 
the night. And then didn’t the cat have a 
feast! Never before had she known the joy 
of having everything she wanted to eat at one 
time with no stopping. 

“Some people saw what a good time the cat 
was having and stopped to watch her. And 
then more and more people stopped, they were 
so amused. 

“It was just like seeing a funny play to see 
the cat pick out the choicest morsels of meat 
and play with them and then eat them. 

“The crowd of people grew more and more. 
The street became so crowded that no one 
could pass by. Soon it was so thick with peo¬ 
ple that the cars and autos could not pass. 

“After the cat had eaten as much as she 
wanted of all of the butcher’s large supply of 
good things a watchman suddenly appeared 
on the scene. 

“With the help of a great many men the 


72 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

watchman finally succeeded in getting the 
crowd to move, and then he got into the shop. 
But the cat simply flew out of the window 
again and disappeared into a side alley, where 
probably she lived, as a rule, on bits she could 
pick up. 

“Such a looking butcher shop as it was now, 
for even if the cat had not quite eaten every¬ 
thing she had tried everything, and she had 
eaten a surprising amount even for a hungry 
cat. 

“ Well,’ said one person who had been 
watching the cat, ‘I think that that cat is the 
cleverest one I’ve ever seen. Not only does 
she want to eat, but she knows just when to 
escape in time after a splendid meal, and, 
what’s more wonderful than everything else, 
she stopped the traffic of cars and autos and 
trucks and people who might have been in a 
hurry to get somewhere.’ ” 


WHAT THE REAL RABBITS THINK 
OF THE CHOCOLATE ONES 


D ADDY was certainly right 
on time this evening for 
his bedtime story, and he had 
a story he wanted to tell right 
away. 

“You know,” said he, 
“some bunny rabbits and 
molly cottontails and jack 
rabbits were almost bursting their sides laugh¬ 
ing in the woods to-day. 

“ ‘Now, you’ll admit,’ old Grandpa Jack 
Rabbit was saying, ‘that that is the best joke 
you ever did hear.’ 

“ ‘Yes, we think so,’ said the molly cotton¬ 
tails. 

“The rest of the bunnies were laughing so 
hard they couldn’t answer. 

“‘Really people are very silly, and they 
have such a funny idea as to what we look 
like. But imagine making bunnies out of 

73 



He Became Quite 
Angry. 


74 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

chocolates!’ And then they burst out laugh¬ 
ing again. 

“ ‘If you could have seen them,’ continued 
old Grandpa Jack Rabbit, ‘you’d have cer¬ 
tainly thought they were funny. You see, it 
was this way: It was very early in the morn¬ 
ing, and I wanted to go through the village, as 
I’d heard the grocer had in a fresh supply of 
fine lettuce. I thought if I did my shopping 
very early I’d manage to secure a few nice 
leaves for our luncheon to-day. Before I got 
to the grocer’s, though, what should I see but 
a huge big cardboard rabbit sitting up in the 
candy shop, and then in the window, besides, 
were just countless rabbits made out of choco¬ 
late. Imagine, did you ever hear of anything 
so foolish? And chickens made out of choco¬ 
late too! Chocolate eggs, too, but that’s a bit 
more sensible. I really think it is quite an in¬ 
sult to us. And they looked so absurd! If 
they had done us justice then I wouldn’t have 
thought so much about it. But they didn’t 
make us look nearly so handsome and good 
looking as they should have. 

“ ‘Now, you take chickens. They are queer 
looking anyway. But a rabbit is different. 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 75 


There is something so grand looking about a 
rabbit.’ 

“Old Grandpa Jack Rabbit was really get¬ 
ting quite angry. He’d forgotten about the 
joke of it and only thought of the insult to his 
family. So the rest of the rabbits said: 

“ ‘Well, after all, it’s a pretty good joke.’ 
And then Grandpa Jack Rabbit began to 
laugh again. 

“ ‘But, grandpa,’ piped up one of the little 
bunnies, ‘you’ve told us all about the chocolate 
bunnies that children eat on Easter, and you 
haven’t told the little bunnies if you got what 
you went for.’ 

“ ‘Dear, dear,’ said grandpa, ‘the fresh green 
lettuce! After all, I didn’t forget about our 
Easter luncheon, for, even though I was pretty 
mad about all those chocolate bunnies, I re¬ 
membered to reach the grocer’s in time to get 
some lettuce. So now we’ll have our Easter 
luncheon.’ ” 


HOW THE KEEPER SAVED THE 
FAWN’S LIFE 



Put Her Head on the 
Keeper’s Shoulder. 


ACK and Evelyn sometimes 
went on trips to the zoo 
with daddy, but they hadn’t 
been there for ever so long. 
So when daddy came home 
they spoke about it. 

“I know,” said daddy, “we 
haven’t been for a long, long 
time, that’s very true, but we’ll surely go soon. 

“First, though, I must tell you the story I 
heard of one of the deers in the zoo. 

“This mother deer had a beautiful young 
fawn, and, oh, she was so proud of her beauti¬ 
ful child! She gave the fawn all the attention 
that any devoted mother deer could. 

“One day, alas, the fawn, who was somewhat 
delicate, caught a terrific cold. The mother 
deer was frightened, and by evening the fawn’s 
cough was dreadful. Now, the keeper had 
fed all the animals, and they had gone to bed 

76 





DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 77 


for the night. But the deer cried so piteously 
that the good, kind keeper, whose own home 
was near by, knew that something was the 
matter. 

“When he reached the little home of the 
mother deer and her beautiful fawn he found 
the mother deer leaning her head sadly against 
the wire door, and the fawn had her head by 
her mother’s side. 

“ ‘Oh, my child, my beautiful child, is ill! 
She has such a dreadful cold, and I’m afraid 
she’ll die! Oh, what can you do for her?’ 
wailed the deer. 

“The keeper understood perfectly, and he 
took a big warm rug and put it right over the 
fawn. Then he went back to his home and 
heated some milk, which he came back with 
and fed slowly to the deer. 

“The keeper sat up all night with the fawn, 
giving her warm milk and keeping her well 
covered. She did look so sick, and her big 
eyes looked so pleading! They seemed to 
say: 

“ ‘Oh, Mr. Keeper, save me so I won’t have 
to leave my mother!’ 

“And as the keeper began to soothe the 


78 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


fawn the mother deer looked on and seemed so 
relieved. 

“In the morning the fawn’s cold was ever 
so much better. It had almost entirely dis¬ 
appeared, and by afternoon, as the fawn had 
been in the sun all the morning, she was 
really quite herself again. 

“Once more her big eyes looked happy, and 
the mother deer, when the keeper came to 
bring them their supper that night, put her 
head on the keeper’s shoulder and cried—a 
very different cry from the night before. She 
cried for joy because her lovely fawn was 
alive and well, and she cried on the keeper’s 
shoulder because she knew the keeper had 
saved her beautiful child’s life.” 


HOW THE BUNNY RABBIT 
FOOLED THE DOG 



IJ 


"ACK and Evelyn reminded 
daddy that he hadn’t told 
them a story for ever so long 
about a bunny rabbit. 


Spot Rushed For the 
Mud Mound. 


“And we’re sure you know 
just heaps of them, don’t you, 
daddy?” 


“Yes. Now that I think 


of it,” said daddy, “I have an especially funny 
one to tell you. 

“There was once a little rabbit named Spot. 
He was a little gray rabbit. You see, over 
one eye he had a little round white spot, which 
was the only part of him not gray, so that when 
he was a wee bunny he had been given the 
name of Spot by his family. 

“Now, Spot was a great traveler. His sis¬ 
ters and brothers had moved to other parts of 
the country, and he was all by himself. 


79 




8 o DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


“He was very fond of travel, so he did a 
great deal of it. He would go from one wood 
to another. 

“One time he struck a very unfortunate 
neighborhood. From outward appearances 
it was most delightful. Alas, though, he did 
not know that there was near by a dog. This 
dog had the reputation of being very fond of 
chasing rabbits. 

“Spot felt quite certain that he had picked 
out a place where there were no dogs for miles 
around, and yet there was one less than a quar¬ 
ter of a mile away. 

“It didn’t take the dog long to find out that 
Spot had moved to the neighborhood. 

“The next morning, bright and early, the 
dog was up. However, Spot was up still 
earlier. He had climbed to the top of a hill 
where he had seen some very fine clover 
sprouting above the ground. 

“Suddenly Spot saw the dog starting to run 
up the hill. Near by Spot saw a muddy 
mound. He rushed for it, and before the dog 
had time to get up the hill, for it was a long, 
steep one, Spot had burrowed into the mud 
and patted the part over with his paw where 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 81 


he had got through it, and there he was safe 
and sound inside the mud ball. 

“When the dog got to the top of the hill he 
could see no sign of the rabbit. He looked 
everywhere. Of course it was slightly hot in¬ 
side the mud ball, but the rabbit had one very 
tiny air hole. And he felt safe too. The dog 
thought he smelt something like a bunny near 
the muddy mound, but he saw no sign of the 
rabbit. The little Spot, who had traveled so 
much, was too clever for the dog, and after the 
dog wandered away, disgusted and disap¬ 
pointed, little Spot got out of his hiding place, 
through which even the dog couldn’t sniff at 
him, and laughed hard all by himself. But 
that night Spot started off for a new home, as 
he didn’t want to run any risks.” 


HOW THE PIG SAVED THE 
OLD WOMAN 


E VELYN had seen some 
very cunning little pink 
baby pigs that day, and she 
thought it would be lovely 
to have a little pig as a pet. 
Jack didn’t think it would be 

Squeal. §0 nice. 

When daddy came home 
Evelyn’s first question was, “Daddy, don’t you 
think it would be lovely to own a little pet 
pig?” 

“I think,” Jack added, almost before Evelyn 
had finished asking her question, “that pigs 
aren’t nice pets at all. They grow up too 
soon, and they lose their cunning baby looks. 
Don’t they, daddy?” 

“Yes,” said daddy; “pigs are nicest on a 
farm. A farm wouldn’t be complete without 
pigs, and the little ones are certainly very 
cunning. 



82 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 83 

“But just think how very lonely a little pig 
would be all by himself! And, what would 
be more annoying, just think how he would 
squeal!” 

“I don’t believe,” said Evelyn, “that I do 
want a pig, after all. Not as a pet, anyway.” 

“Now that we’ve decided that we won’t 
have a pig as a pet, I think I will have to tell 
you the story of the old woman who did have 
a pig as a pet. 

“This story shows how a pig’s squealing, by 
the way, did once do a great deal of good. 

“Once there lived an old woman all alone 
with her pig, and she had one great fault. 
She was very careless about fire and never 
cared where she threw her matches after she 
had lighted her fire. 

“She made all manner of fun of the people 
who thought she was careless. But one time 
she learned a very good lesson, and she real¬ 
ized then that one cannot be too careful with 
fire. 

“She was on her way to bed and before get¬ 
ting into bed lighted a fire in a little stove. 
Instead of throwing her match into the fire 
she threw it in the waste paper basket. 


84 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

“The waste paper basket was full of scraps 
of paper, and slowly the match began to 
smolder. The old woman meantime went 
sound, sound asleep. 

“Now, the pig had a basket to sleep in by 
the old woman’s bed. He smelt the smoke 
and thought it was a very queer smell. But 
as the old woman seemed to be sleeping so 
quietly he thought he would not disturb her 
just to find out what the queer burning smell 
meant. 

“Suddenly it burst into flames. Then the 
pig set up the noisiest, most constant squealing 
you ever heard. The neighbors were all 
awakened by it, and, seeing what the trouble 
was, the fire department was called right out. 

“The old woman was saved, but if it had 
not been for the pig’s squealing, which was so 
easily heard, she would have burned to death. 
After that she was pretty careful where she 
threw her matches, and she was more devoted 
to her pet pig than ever before.” 


THE LITTLE WHITE FOOTED 
MOUSE GETS INTO TROUBLE 



He Got His Feet 
Muddy. 


VELYN had always been 
fond of little mice. She 
thought they were so cunning 
and had such appealing little 
ways. So daddy thought it 
would be a good plan to tell 
the children a little mouse 
story for a change. 

“I’m going to tell you this evening,” began 
daddy, “about the little mice who have white 
feet.” 

“White feet?” cried both the children at 
once. 

“Are they only found in zoos?” asked 
Evelyn. 

“Oh, no,” said daddy; “indeed, no! They 
are very active and are not at all like the 
waltzing mice, for instance, who don’t mind 
if they are caged so long as they have a little 
place to dance on. The white footed mice 


86 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


are very fond of the outdoor life. They live 
in nests, just like birds. Quite often, too, they 
will take the deserted nest of some bird and 
fix it up a little bit and then live in it. They 
always pick out a nest, though, that is in a 
bush. 

“The family of white footed mice that I’m 
going to tell you about were very happy, and 
there was one little mouse who was the pet of 
all. 

“One day, though, a sad mishap befell him. 
His sisters and brothers had gone off food 
hunting. As he had a cold he stayed home. 
Toward noon it was warm and sunny, and the 
little mouse thought he’d take a nice walk. 

“So he got out of his comfy nest and started 
off. But on his walk he got into a swamp. 
When he saw he was on swampy ground he 
tried to get off it quickly, but at each step he’d 
get further and further into it. He did not 
get in so deeply that it was dangerous at any 
time, but he got in deeply enough to get his 
beautiful white feet all dirty and muddy. 

“He was heartbroken to see his feet so 
muddy, for the white footed mice greatly ad¬ 
mire their own feet. 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 87 

“He reached home before his family did 
and tried to get the mud off. 

“He was making his feet look nice and 
clean again when his family came home. 
They found him scrubbing his feet, and they 
asked him how he had managed to get them so 
muddy. So then he told them about his walk 
and how he got into a swamp. 

“Of course they didn’t mind as long as he 
hadn’t caught any more cold, and they thought 
it was quite a joke. He took the joke well 
and laughed with them. 

“After his feet were white once more his 
brothers and sisters felt quite disappointed, 
for they had had such fun in calling him ‘Lit¬ 
tle Black Foot.’ And he had thought it was 
a very funny name to be called too! 

“He told his family, though, that he thought 
he would not go on any more walks alone, as 
his feet didn’t seem to know where to take 
him.” 


HOW THE LITTLE PIGS ENJOYED 
THE CLOUDS 



Off In the Air They 
Went. 


TRANGELY enough, 
daddy had never told the 
children a story about an 
airship, and certainly, he 
said to himself, another 
story must not be told 
about anything before he 
told an aeroplane story. 

Jack loved to get hold of all the pictures he 
could to see just how the aeroplanes did look 
and how they really did fly. So when daddy 
told them he had an aeroplane story for them 
both Jack and Evelyn were delighted. 

“I am going to tell you this evening,” said 
daddy, “a story about three little pigs and their 
ride in an airship. 

“There was a young man who owned an air¬ 
ship. But besides this he also had a small 
farm, and three little young pigs had just been 
added to it. 


88 







DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 89 

“The young man thought the little pigs were 
so cunning that he hardly wanted to leave 
them, even for his airship, of which, of course, 
he was very fond. So the only thing left for 
him to do, he decided, was to take the little 
pigs for a trip in the airship. 

“When he asked the little pigs if they would 
like to fly with him they did look very much 
surprised, but as they didn’t know what to say 
they gave their usual answer of a squeal, but 
it sounded like a strong and enthusiastic 
squeal. So he picked them up and put them 
into the waiting airship. 

“So off into the air, up near the clouds they 
went. The little pigs were not at all fright¬ 
ened, and they seemed to like the clouds. 
The young man decided that they must like 
extreme things, for they liked to get under the 
earth, and they seemed to very much enjoy 
getting way up in the air. 

“Of course they squealed, but they squealed 
for joy, and they were just as good as could be. 

“When they got to the earth again after a 
good, long trip they really seemed to be very 
much disappointed that such a fine trip had 
come to an end. 


90 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


“Then when they got to the barnyard once 
more you should have heard the noise. Of 
course the pigs had to tell all the other animals 
about their trip, and the more they talked the 
louder were their voices. 

“Of course they wanted to brag to the other 
animals of how much more of the world they 
had seen than any of them, for, though, you 
might not believe it to be so, pigs are really 
very conceited.” 

“Well,” said Jack, “I would be pretty proud 
myself if I had ever been up in an airship.” 

“So would I,” of course agreed Evelyn. 

“Well,” laughed daddy, “then the pigs win, 
for they did see the clouds, and we agree that 
it wasn’t conceited of them to be proud of 
their trip,” 


THE DOG WITH THE PERFECT 
TABLE MANNERS 


D ADDY had heard of a 
dog who had perfect 
table manners. 

“Now, what would you 
think of a dog who insisted 
upon always having a 

Refused to Eat with- table napkin?’’ he asked 
out a Napkin. j ack and Evdyn> 

“I wouldn’t like that kind of a dog,” said 
Jack. “I don’t like dogs that are so fussy. 
One always thinks of them as being brave and 
above such things as table napkins.” 

“Well,” continued daddy, “I do not really 
think it was the fault of this dog that he was 
fussy. 

“You see, he belonged to a funny old lady. 
This old lady had the strange idea that a dog 
should behave just like a person, which is 
really very absurd, because it stands to reason 

91 





92 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

that a dog should behave like a dog and a 
person like a person.” 

At this Jack and Evelyn laughed, and daddy 
joined in too. 

“This old lady lived all alone in a very 
small house. The house had only one floor, 
and it looked so small you wondered how any 
one could ever get in it. But then, when you 
looked at the old lady, you were not a bit 
surprised, for she was the tiniest person. 

“Now her dog was a great contrast to both 
the old lady and the little house. The dog 
was a very big one. He was black and white 
and looked just twice as huge as the old 
lady. 

“But the funniest thing was that the old lady 
would never let this dog go out by himself. 
She always went out with him, and he was on 
a short leash. 

“When mealtime came the old lady would 
put a napkin around her dog’s neck, and they 
would both sit at a low table and eat together. 
And the dog would never try to eat, even if 
he saw food in front of him, until his napkin 
was put around his neck.” 

“That does sound funny, certainly,” said 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 93 

Evelyn. “And to think that the dog liked 
it seems very funny indeed.” 

“Well, you see, he just got in the habit of 
being fussy like the old lady. And then, 
though he was so big, he was quite old him¬ 
self. 

“At night he would sleep on a sofa at the 
foot of the old lady’s bed, and if any one 
should ring the doorbell of their little house 
at night—well, you should have heard the 
barking. So he did have some spirit, after 
all, and would not have let anything happen 
to the old lady for anything in the world.” 

“Well,” said Jack, “I am glad you told us 
one good point the big dog had, for I wouldn’t 
have liked him much, just hearing about his 
fussiness. After all, I don’t believe there is 
ever a dog, no matter how strangely he is 
brought up, that hasn’t something nice about 
him.” 


THE LITTLE GIRL WHO RODE 
THE BEAR 


)ERHAPS being brought 
up with Jack and enter¬ 
ing into all the things that 
Jack did had made Evelyn 
very fearless. Jack never 
tried to frighten her, so 

The Man Sang, and that she never thought 
the Bear Danced. ° 

about being afraid of any¬ 
thing. He would take her for wonderful 
coasts in the express carts, and as long as Jack 
did the steering Evelyn always felt absolutely 
safe. 

So daddy thought it would be rather amus¬ 
ing to tell the children of a little girl he had 
once seen ride a bear. He began thus: 

“One day there came to the village where 
this little girl lived a man with a performing 
bear. The man would sing a song which 
sounded like ‘Ah, duddy-ung, duddy-ung, 
dung, dey,’ and the bear would dance around 

94 





DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 95 


on his hind legs. Then, of course, the people 
would throw the bear pennies. 

“Now the man became annoyed because he 
did not get more money. So he said he would 
have the bear climb a pole for any one who 
would give him 10 cents. Some one gave 10 
cents and up the pole the bear scrambled. 

“Then more dancing followed, but the peo¬ 
ple became rather tired of it, and the man had 
to think of something quite new with which to 
amuse the people so he would make more 
money. 

“He called out to the crowd: 

“ ‘Now, whoever will give me a twenty-five 
cent piece may have a ride on the bear. He is 
quite safe and will not harm any one. Come 
along, come along! Who wants to ride the 
bear?’ 

“As you might think, nobody was particu¬ 
larly anxious to ride the bear. But the man 
discovered that there was some kind of a dis¬ 
cussion going on between some people. So 
once more he called out: 

“ ‘The person who takes this ride will be 
given a good, long one—all the distance to the 
next corner.’ 


96 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


“That was practically a block, and that is 
really quite a distance to ride on a bear as I 
found out by watching the little girl who 
finally did ride him. She had a lot of trouble 
keeping on.” 

“Did the little girl finally ride him?” asked 
Evelyn. 

“Yes,” said daddy. “One little girl in the 
crowd was begging her big brother to give 
her 25 cents so she could ride the bear. She 
longed to ride one, as she thought it would 
be lots of fun, and she wasn’t a bit frightened. 
Her big brother thought the bear looked very 
mild and so he finally gave in. 

“The little girl thought she had never had 
such fun in her life, and she quite felt like a 
real circus performer with the crowds of peo¬ 
ple following and watching her. As she had 
always thought circus performers were won¬ 
derful people she quite enjoyed making be¬ 
lieve she was one.” 


THE SPOILED LLAMA OF THE 
BARNYARD 


"ACK and Evelyn seemed 
to be in the best of spir¬ 
its, so when daddy came 
in he said: 

“It is plain to be seen 
that I must tell you a 
“Whoa! stop!” the funny story this evening. 

Well, that is all right, I 
have one ready for you. 

“Now, you may think that a llama is a very 
funny thing to have in a barnyard with the 
other barnyard animals. 

“The way he happened to come to the barn¬ 
yard in the first place was this: The farmer 
who owned all the animals went one time on 
a long trip. On this trip he saw a most beau¬ 
tiful llama, who struck his fancy. 

“So he bought the llama and took him back 
to his home. 

“A number of his friends told him that 
97 






98 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

they greatly feared that the llama would not 
get along with the other animals, but the man 
was willing to run the risk, for he was bent 
on owning the llama. 

“When they got home the llama thought 
he had never seen so many strange animals in 
his life, and the other animals thought the 
same of him. Well, you know, animals have 
keen senses of humor. And the laughter in 
the barnyard was the noisiest laughter that 
ever was heard. And, of course, the llama 
didn’t mind being laughed at, as he could 
laugh just as hard at the other animals. 

“Now, the man thought that the llama 
would enjoy being driven. He thought the 
animal could carry things around the farm. 

“So after he had been there a few days the 
llama was hitched to a cart and given the milk 
bottles to carry and the pails of milk. 

“The llama started off at the wildest speed. 
He went so fast that all the milk spilled over 
the barnyard, and no one could stop him, and 
the man cried: 

“ ‘Whoa, whoa! Stop!’ 

“But the llama kept right on. He came to 
a steep and very rocky bank. The man 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 99 

thought surely that would stop him, but not 
at all. The llama was used to climbing 
higher rocks than these. In fact, they seemed 
no more than pebbles to him. And up he 
went until the cart broke and fell down the 
bank. 

“Then the llama turned and went back to 
the barnyard where the other animals stood 
with their mouths open, watching him. 

“The llama, when he got back, said to the 
man in llama talk: 

“ ‘You bought me for my beauty, so I will 
not be made useful.’ 

“And although the man could not under¬ 
stand llama talk, as a rule, he understood 
what the llama meant this time. 

“Never again did he, at any rate, try to 
make the llama useful.” 


THE DOG’S MASTER WON THE 
CASE 



T 


'HE stories about dogs al- 


L ways delighted Evelyn, 
and daddy knew she would 
be pleased when he said: 


“I have a story to tell you 
to-night about a dog.” 


“How dare you take 
my dog?” he said. 


“Hurrah!” said Evelyn, 
and Jack looked just as 


greatly pleased as Evelyn. 

“There was once a man who had a little 
dog to which he was very devoted. Now, 
this dog was very cunning and had such a 
pretty face that every one noticed him. Peo¬ 
ple passing by the master and his dog would 
say: 

“ ‘Did you ever see such a dear little dog?’ 

“But, alas, one day some one who thought 
he was a very good looking little dog and 
that he would no doubt bring a good price 
stole him. 


100 



DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 101 


“The master was heartbroken. He looked 
everywhere for his little dog and put adver¬ 
tisements in the papers with a very clear de¬ 
scription of just what his dog looked like. 

“Two days had passed when he saw his dog 
on the street, being taken on a leash by a very 
disagreeable looking man to a dog shop. 

“With a bound the dog wrenched himself 
from the leash and jumped up on his master 
with the delight that only a dog can show. 

“The master petted him and took him up 
in his arms, and the dog nestled down so 
happily. 

“ ‘How dare you take my dog?’ said the 
disagreeable looking man. 

“ ‘It seems to act as if it were my dog, 
doesn’t it?’ asked the dog’s master. 

“ ‘Well, it’s not. You probably showed 
the dog a piece of bone, for you will admit 
you would like to own such a fine looking 
dog. That was a very clever trick of yours, 
but it won’t do. I shall go to the judge about 
this.’ 

“ ‘Do,’ said the master, who wasn’t a bit 
frightened, now that he safely had his little 
dog in his arms. 


102 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


“Together they went to the courthouse. 
There they waited until the judge could hear 
their case. 

“The disagreeable man talked better than 
the master, but the judge was wise, and he 
knew how to decide the matter. 

“ ‘It will be proved,’ said he, ‘who owns the 
dog by the dog himself.’ 

“All this time the judge had been holding 
the dog on the end of his leash. 

“He patted the dog and said, ‘Now, you 
tell us who is your master.’ With that he let 
go of the dog. 

“Just at that moment the disagreeable look¬ 
ing man pulled an old bone out of his pocket 
and held it toward the dog. 

“But the dog never so much as sniffed at it, 
for with a bound he had jumped up on his 
real master, and the judge said: 

“ ‘The dog has decided the case for me. 
Now you may all go.’ ” 


THE ELEPHANTS CELEBRATE 
THE HOLIDAY 



io 


-J ral that Jack and Evelyn 
should enjoy every holiday 
that came along. But dad¬ 
dy wanted to tell them how 
the elephants in the zoo 
were planning to spend Dec¬ 
oration day. 


F course it was very natu- 


The Elephants 
Played Ball. 


“They are going to have a real holiday,” 
commenced daddy, “and they have been prac¬ 
tising for it for weeks. You have no idea the 
trouble they have taken to make themselves 
ready for the big event.” 

“Daddy,” chimed in Jack, “you haven’t 
told us what the big event is to be.” 

“No; that is true,” said daddy. “But I 
will tell you right away. The big event is to 
be a baseball game. The elephants heard all 
the different little boys who came to look at 
them in the zoo talking about the fun of play- 


108 



104 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


ing baseball in the spring. The elephants 
thought it would be just as much fun for them 
to play baseball in the spring too. 

“Now, the keeper knew at oncer* something 
was wrong with those elephants. He knew 
it was something they wanted in the way of 
amusement, too, for they were not the least 
bit ill and showed, in fact, how well they were 
by their splendid appetites. 

“So the keeper thought and thought, and 
finally he discovered what it was. He was 
just about to give the elephants their supper 
one day as a group of boys were standing 
near by. 

“The boys were talking of the fine game 
they would surely have the next afternoon. 
At the word ball the elephants hung their 
heads way down and threw their trunks 
around in a very unhappy manner. 

“ T know what is the matter with them,’ 
said the keeper to himself. ‘They have the 
spring fever, baseball. Well, if that is all 
that is making them unhappy I will see to it 
that they have all the baseball they want.’ 

“The very next day, much to the surprise 
and delight of the elephants, a mask, a glove 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 105 


and a bat and ball were presented to the ele¬ 
phant which was always considered the leader 
by the others. 

“You caL imagine how excited they were, 
and you should have seen how queerly they 
did play at first. But they had such fun that 
their happiness was a perfect delight to the 
keeper. 

“Then they heard that there was to be a 
holiday on the 30th day of May. 

“ ‘We’ll have a holiday, too,’ said they. 
‘We will have a ball game, and any one who 
wants to see us play may come with pleasure.’ 

“And this is what they have been practis¬ 
ing for, so that to-morrow they will have 
their holiday game. 

“And the keeper, who has a secret idea that 
they are preparing for a special game to-mor¬ 
row, has in turn prepared a special supper for 
them and for all the animals because it is a 
holiday.” 


THE LITTLE PIG WHO WAS 
STUNG 


J ACK and Evelyn had 
been to a party that aft¬ 
ernoon and were quite 
tired and sleepy. But 
they wanted their story 
just as soon as daddy came 
upstairs. 

“What in the world 
will I tell you about to-night?” asked daddy. 

“Oh,” laughed Jack, “you know you have 
a story ready for us! Now, haven’t you, 
daddy?” 

“Well, maybe I could think up one if I 
tried.” 

“I think you could,” said Evelyn. 

“If Evelyn thinks I can, too, I will have to 
tell a story about a little pig, for I know she 
is very fond of little pigs. 

“There was once a very spoiled little pig 
106 



Snook John Was a 
Spoiled Pig. 





DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 107 


named Snook John. He kept all his family 
busy attending to his wants, and they were 
many, I can assure you. He thought he was 
very delicate and that he mustn’t overexer¬ 
cise, so he made his family believe he was that 
way. In fact, after constant spoiling, he be¬ 
gan to actually think he was a very fragile 
little pig. He imagined he had heart failure 
and indigestion and neuralgia. 

“One day there was a party in the air. 
Great whisperings went about as to when and 
where the party should be and what they 
should do. 

“Finally they decided that they would go to 
a nearby swamp where there was the most 
wonderful marshy ground to burrow in. 

“And Snook John could not be persuaded 
to go, and he tried to make the others feel a 
little unhappy about going and leaving him. 
Of course they were used to his acting in such 
a way, but still it did spoil the fun a little bit 
to feel they were leaving Snook John all alone 
at home. They tried to make him go, but he 
said that he had such trouble with his heart 
that he wouldn’t dare. 

“ ‘I have to look after myself, as no one else 


io8 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


cares whether I live or die,’ said Snook John 
in a whiny voice. 

“ ‘That isn’t true,’ said the others. ‘But we 
know you would feel better if you came.’ 

“ ‘That shows you don’t understand,’ said 
Snook John, trying to look abused. 

“After they all had left Snook John saw, to 
his horror, a huge yellow jacket approaching 
him. The awful thing came nearer and 
nearer and then stung Snook John with such 
force that he screamed and screamed in pain. 

“But it taught Snook John a lesson, for it 
was the first real pain he had ever had, and 
afterward he didn’t make a fuss about imag¬ 
inary pains.” 


THE DOG WHO WOULDN’T LEAVE 
HER PUPPIES 



“You poor tired dog¬ 
gie!” said her master. 


ACK and Evelyn both 
were devoted to dogs, 
and daddy always was 
sure that a story about a 
dog would please the 
children. 

“I have to tell you this 
evening,” said daddy, “a 
story about a dog who had five most beautiful 
little puppies. They were very tiny, black 
and white puppies, and their mother was so 
proud of them. Now, her master was mov¬ 
ing away to another place, and a new man 
had bought his home. This person seemed, 
to the dog’s master, like a very nice, kind 
man. Immediately he seemed to take a great 
fancy to the puppies and their mother. So 
their master suggested that he should keep the 
dogs, for he was moving to a village ten miles 
away and had to go over very rough roads. 






no DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


He decided that the trip would be very bad 
for the mother dog and the puppies. 

“Dogs are very loyal to the first person they 
love and who cares for them. It is very sel¬ 
dom that a dog is happy with another master 
when the first one has been good to him. 

“The master pretended to the dog that he 
was just going for a walk and said good-by as 
usual, or, rather, he tried to. 

“But the dog knew that her master was sad, 
and she had noticed the other man about the 
place. She knew something was the matter, 
and as soon as her master started off she set 
up the most pathetic wail. 

“The next day toward evening as the mas¬ 
ter was sitting in his new house a little whim¬ 
per which sounded most familiar greeted his 
ears. 

“ ‘Where could it come from?’ he thought. 
He opened the door, and there stood his dog 
looking so tired and worn. She snuggled 
down by him, for she was so tired she couldn’t 
jump up, as was her custom. But after a mo¬ 
ment or two of petting she gave all the signs 
which meant he was to follow her, and out¬ 
side under a vine on the stoop of the house 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 111 


were the five little puppies, for she had not 
been able to leave them behind. 

“ ‘You poor, loyal, tired doggie!’ said her 
master. ‘You and your precious puppies will 
never be left again.’ The dog understood 
perfectly that she was welcomed with her 
family and that she would never be given to 
another master. 

“But in the meantime the telephone rang, 
and the other man telephoned to say that 
after her master had left the night before the 
dog had commenced her journey after him, 
each trip taking a puppy with her. The peo¬ 
ple along the road had seen this from their 
windows and didn’t know what it could mean 
until the man explained that she must have 
gone back to her master. 

“When the master heard this he was more 
touched than ever and told the man that, after 
all, he would keep his dogs.” 


WHY THE RABBIT WAS NAMED 
PIGEON 


D ADDY had just heard 
of the strange adven¬ 
tures of a certain little 
bunny rabbit, and he asked 
Jack and Evelyn how they 
would like to hear about 
them. 

“I think a bunny’s ad¬ 
ventures are always very interesting and 
unusual,” said Jack. 

“A certain little bunny named Pigeon”-— 
commenced daddy. 

“A bunny named Pigeon!” shouted both 
the children at once. “Now, daddy, why was 
a bunny named Pigeon?” And daddy said: 

“You see his mother was very friendly with 
Mrs. Pouter Pigeon. There had been a time 
when Mrs. Pouter Pigeon had hurt her left 
wing, and she hadn’t been able to fly. She 

cried and cried when this happened, and 
112 



“You are paying me 
a compliment.” 





DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 113 


Mother Rabbit, who was very kind hearted, 
hurried to her right away. 

“ ‘Why, what is the trouble, Mrs. Pouter 
Pigeon?’ said Mother Rabbit. 

“ ‘Oh,’ sobbed Mrs. Pouter Pigeon, ‘I have 
fallen and hurt myself terribly! I won’t be 
able to get out of the reach of bigger animals 
who may want to eat me up, and I don’t want 
to be eaten up.’ 

“At that she burst into more sobs. 

“ ‘Well, to tell you the truth,’ said Mother 
Rabbit, ‘I don’t believe there is a creature liv¬ 
ing who wants to be eaten up. But you come 
and live with us, and I will see that you are 
protected.’ 

“So Mrs. Pouter Pigeon went to live with 
Mother Rabbit. They became very friendly 
and attached to one another. 

“And then when the little bunny rabbit was 
born his mother said, ‘Now I shall name him 
Pigeon after you, Mrs. Pouter Pigeon.’ 

“And Mrs. Pouter Pigeon strutted about 
and said, ‘You have not only saved my life by 
having me come and live with you, but now 
you are paying me a fine compliment.’ 

“And you know the pouter pigeons love to 


114 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 

be flattered. In fact, a little praise is good 
for every one. 

“But I haven’t told you about little Pi¬ 
geon’s adventures,” said daddy. “One day 
when it was nice and sunny and warm he 
thought he would go for a walk. So off he 
started, and it was not long before he found 
the most wonderful clover field. He took 
home just quantities of the clover, enough to 
enable his mother to give a dinner party and 
invite all her friends to it, and he left enough 
in the field so they could come back for more.” 

“But, daddy,” said Evelyn, “he didn’t get 
into trouble that time?” 

“No,” said daddy. “I told you of that ad¬ 
venture because one without trouble would be 
such a surprise.” 








































. 












THE PIG WHO WANTED TO BE 
CLEAN 


T HE children hadn’t 
been told an animal 
story for some time, and 
daddy thought it was high 
time to tell one. 

“How about a story of 
The L a ttI p r ize S W ° n some little baby pigs?” 
asked daddy. 

“We would love to hear a story about some 
pigs,” said Evelyn. “We haven’t heard a 
story about pigs for ever and ever so long.” 

“Now, that is true,” said Jack. “Do tell 
us one to-night.” 

“The pig family that I am going to tell you 
about were having the best time you can pos¬ 
sibly imagine, as they loved having day after 
day of warmth and sunshine. So they were 
perfectly happy. They would lie for hours 
in the most comfortable place they could find 
and never budge until they felt hungry. 

115 








n6 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


“But one little pig became quite intimate 
with a goat that resided in a field near by. 

“The goat’s family were not so lazy as the 
little pig’s family were, and at first the goat’s 
family didn’t want their favorite child to have 
anything to do with the pig, as they thought 
it would encourage him to laziness, and that 
they never wanted him to be. 

“But after awhile they saw that this little 
pig really did not like being so lazy as his 
family, and then they didn’t object to the 
friendship. 

“As for the pig’s family, they didn’t care 
what happened so long as they were not dis¬ 
turbed themselves. 

“Among other things that the little pig 
liked about his friends was that without being 
overneat they were not quite so fond of dirt as 
his family. Of course, you see, how different 
he was from his family, as he didn’t like mud 
nearly so much as they did, nor did he think 
lying in it was at all an idea of bliss. 

“So he became just fussy enough about his 
personal appearance to still look exactly like 
a pig. But he saw that his feet were moder- 


DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 117 

ately clean and that his face was washed ever 
so often. 

“Sometimes he would tell his family of the 
joys of being clean and explain to them that 
they would find they would be much cooler if 
they took nice cool baths every afternoon. 
But as he saw he only annoyed them he soon 
stopped. 

“In a week there was to be a county fair, 
and all the animals were going to be exhibited 
by their owners. There was a great deal of 
talking among the animals as to who would 
win the prizes, and once more the pig family 
didn’t take the slightest interest in the fair. 

“But they did feel very much ashamed 
when the clean little pig was the only one of 
all their family to win a prize.” 


THE TEA PARTY FOR THE 
PEKINESE DOG 



She Was Devoted to 
Chung Wang. 


"\ TACK and Evelyn had met 
UhT JKT .1 the smallest dog they had 
ever seen that afternoon. 
Of course when daddy came 
home they told him about it. 

“He was so cunning,” 
said Evelyn. 

“Yes,” said Jack, “and he 
was all fixed up in a little brown coat which 
exactly matched his own brown coat.” 

“Was he a little Chinese dog?” asked daddy. 

“Yes,” replied Evelyn; “we couldn’t help 
but stop and talk to his mistress, and she told 
us he was a little Chinese dog. She also told 
us that he had his full growth, and that cer¬ 
tainly was very little.” 

“That reminds me,” said daddy, “of the 
story I have meant to tell you for some time 
of the little Pekinese dog who was given a tea 




DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 119 

party in honor of his first birthday by his mis¬ 
tress. 

“Chung Wang was his name, and it was his 
first birthday. His mistress’ name was Edith, 
and she was more devoted to little Chung 
Wang than to almost anything else, and he 
was just as fond of her. He would follow her 
around wherever she went. 

“But to continue about his birthday party. 
He was one whole year old, and, of course, 
he must have a birthday party. So Edith 
thought a tea party would be the very nicest 
kind. Besides, Chung Wang had always 
seemed to like tea better than any other meal. 

“So for that reason Edith thought to give 
Chung Wang a party all for himself and to 
have it a tea party would be quite the nicest 
thing she could do in honor of his first birth¬ 
day. 

“Edith invited a few of her friends who 
owned little dogs to come to the party. When 
they came in all the other little dogs carried 
in their mouths presents for Chung Wang. 
One brought a beautiful flower, which was 
fastened to his collar. Another little dog 
brought a new red sweater, still another 


120 DADDY’S BEDTIME ANIMAL STORIES 


brought a cushion for Chung Wang to sleep 
on. 

“Chung Wang barked his ‘Thank you!’ 
each time Edith opened the parcels for him, 
and then the other dogs wagged their tails, 
which meant, ‘You’re very welcome.’ 

“And then the tea table was brought in with 
a big cake in the center upon which was burn¬ 
ing brightly a tall red candle. 

“All the little dogs barked some more. 
They wanted to say ‘Many happy returns of 
the day.’ 

“But how they all did enjoy the tea party! 
First they had little saucers with cream, a lit¬ 
tle sugar and a drop of tea all mixed up to¬ 
gether. Then they had little chunks of but¬ 
tered toast with sugar on the top. Then they 
all had several little cakes, and each got a 
piece of birthday cake.” 






















